Admit it - you are annoying!
People annoy me in the strangest ways, but what’s nice is that I know I also annoy people in the strangest ways too. Here is a list of the first 10 annoying things I do (there are so many more I’m sure, but this is just straight off the top of my head and not in order of greatest annoyance):
Take forever to respond to text messages
Not share enough details/talk too little
Share too many details/talk too much
Debate…. everything
Pile important papers on my desk, but get annoyed when other people leave their stuff around
Try to know what everyone is thinking without them saying anything
Have the answer to every problem (it annoys people even when I really do have the answer to everything)
Call them instead of text them
Not know what’s happening in their lives because I suck at social media
Expecting people to listen not only to what I say, but also what is implied
I’ve heard self-awareness is very important, so I try not to get bothered as much these days by the weird things I do that annoy other people. Also, because I am curious, I usually try to figure out why I do these annoying things. With that in mind, let me rewind the list and give my first hypothesis about why I do these 10 annoying things:
Take forever to respond to text messages
I think what I actually want to say is something the person won’t like, so I’m thinking of a kind way to say it so I can get as much of what I want without being a horrible person—at least publicly.
Not share enough details/talk too little
I think this is partly for the same reason above, but also because I’m kind of a ninja at figuring things out without people saying them, so I expect people to do the same when I talk. What’s really annoying is sometimes I know what someone is trying to get across and I’ll pretend like I don’t know so they can get the words out super explicitly ( I hate when people do this to me, and I do it to other people anyway because I’m secretly a horrible person).
Share too many details/talk too much
Well, in the moment I don’t actually see the thing I’m sharing as all that detail or all that important so it feels fine to share it until someone tells me otherwise…. I guess that’s mostly just ignorance.
Debate…. everything
I think this one is a Sandiford thing - everyone in my family debates and has for as long as I can remember. I once stayed up until like 1 or 2 am at my parents house, arguing with my brother about whether Kobe stepped out of bounds on this jump shot or not. After a while I wasn’t even arguing the play and I was just trying to see how long we could keep the debate going. I can still remember the play to this day.
Pile papers on my desk, but get annoyed when other people leave their stuff around
I pile papers on my desk because I’m putting off a task that I know needs to get done, but isn’t a high enough priority to get done right now. Actually, it probably never needs to get done and I could probably just throw it straight in the trash (I’m going to try this now). As far as getting annoyed at other people’s stuff, I sometimes get quite OCD and get anxiety if things are left out. Plus putting things away that aren’t important papers are easy because they have a clearly defined place to go.
Try to know what everyone is thinking without them saying anything
Obviously I do this because I’m a genius. No really, though I think we all can do this if we just pay attention and anyone who isn’t doing it just doesn’t care enough. Or maybe its that I always felt people weren’t invested in what I was saying enough to figure me out and I want to show them it’s not that hard to do.
Have the answer to every problem (it annoys people even when I really do have the answer to everything)
I think I do this because I think of life as a big math problem where every single thing does have a right answer, but there could be multiple ways to arrive at the right answer. Leaving a problem on unanswered feels wrong.
Call them instead of text them
I like to talk - my motor runs of other people’s emotions, so hearing someone say something hold so much more power to me than conversations through text message. Just pick up so we can talk.
Not know what’s happening in their lives because I suck at social media
I was violently opposed to social media for years to the point where Facebook and Twitter don’t make sense to me. Instagram was easy to pick up because its a picture and a caption—done!
Expecting people to listen not only to what I say, but also what is implied
This feels like a repeat, doesn’t it? I can listen to the implied words in your speech and I know you can do the same to when I talk if you cared enough. So care enough so I don’t have to do so much work to explain everything.